Recently I was away from home visiting India and whilst I was away my husband decided to cook something that he loves…i.e. Chicken. So this recipe is his and comes from him. He loves chettinad chicken, but he decided to try out something similar, yet different and made this South Indian style dry chicken.

South Indian Style Dry Chicken
This is a simple recipe which uses chicken breast, and spices. Just the magic of spices makes this chicken curry super scrumptious. This recipes does not require any marination and is perfect for the days when you wish to dish up a nice chicken curry with minimal effort and is ready is less than an 45 minutes.
Personally I am big fan of marinating “stuff” for hours as I believe marinating enhances the taste, as the spices gets to the core of chicken, etc. But, if we talk of this recipe, it bypasses all such needs due to the nature of small pieces of chicken breasts.
South Indian Style Dry Chicken | YourFoodFantasy.com
My husband, has lived in various parts of India, but he reckons that the taste of south indian food is something very unique and he always craves for it. So here is his attempt at a south indian styled curry. All I know is that he seemed super happy after eating this, and I may try paneer / mushroom with same recipe.
South Indian Style Dry Chicken Curry | Your Food Fantasy
If you like chicken you may also try some other chicken recipes on my blog, such as butter chicken, bhuna chicken, chilli chicken, tandoori chicken or all time hit chicken dum biryani.
Let’s get to the detailed recipe of this south-indian style dry chicken curry.
South Indian Style Dry Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 500 Grams Chicken Breast Diced into small pieces
- 10 Grams Ginger
- 5 Piece Green chillies As per your taste (Slit in between)
- 2 Piece Tomatoes Large Sized
- 2 Piece Onions Large Sized
- 10-12 Piece Whole Black Pepper Adjust as per your taste
- 2 Piece Cinnamon sticks Small sized
- 1 Piece Star Anise
- 2 Piece Bayleaves
- 14-16 Piece Curry leaves
- 8 Cloves Garlic Peeled and uncut
- 5 Grams Fennel Seeds
- 2 Teaspoon Salt As per your taste
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder As per your taste
- 1.5 Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
Instructions
- Once you have all the ingredients ready as listed. Put the pan on heat and saute onions add garlic cloves till its light brown and add Fennel seeds, Cinnamon sticks, Star Anise and Curry leaves as well. This should take about 5-7 mins on medium heat.
- Now add ginger (cut into small pieces, you can grate too), along with green chillies, bay leaves red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala, roast this for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add chopped tomatoes and still it for 2-3 minutes.
- Finally add diced chicken and mix well with spices in the pan. Add salt and let it cook for 20-22 minutes till chicken is well done. Keep stirring the pan, every now and then to ensure chicken is well cooked and spices are infused well on the chicken.
- Your dry chicken curry is ready to be served. Serve with Chappati / Indian bread.
Notes
- Exercise care when cooking chicken to ensure its well done and at the same not over cooked.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over it before serving, in case you like that tangy citrus taste.
- Ensure that you cook all this on medium / medium-low flame.
- Try this recipe with Paneer (Veg option).
- Water has not been added at all in this recipe, but if you wish little gravy, add 50ml of water.
I just made this, exactly as written (except, I did not have curry leaves, so I omitted those). This was an excellent, juicy, flavorful and delicious chicken curry! One of the best chicken curries I have ever made. Thank you so much for the delicious recipe!